Slip cover for furniture



Noir. 21, 1944. M. SUGARMAN 2,363,271

SLIP covERs Fon FURNITURE Filed May 8, -1943 Patented Nov. 21, 1944y2,363,271y I A SLIP yCOVER Fpznruiuvrrfuna Mendel Sugarman, MaldenQMass.s .Application May s, 1943,-seria1N0. 486,118

y s claims.v (Criss-182);

Slipcovers for upholstered furniture.

` The present invention relates to adjustable Li vvUpholstered orover-stuffed furniture varies sofgreatly in size and shape that the bestf1tting and most attractive covers are still custom, l5' f rmade' to fiteach article. Many' attempts have been made, with varying degrees ofsuccess, to make adjustable slip covers. Some covers have been made ,ofelastic `material,` some have had separate' vpanels individuallyadjusted in place', s

and others have provided considerable surplus material along vthemargins ofthe panels and have hadvarious arrangements of draw-stringsor` tying tapes. While some of these adjustable covers are lessexpensive than custom-,made covers, it is still common practice ,to haveremovabley furniture covers custom made, even at 'greatercosa forthesake of appearance Vand itting qualities.

they are atl',"acl"1'ed to flarge articles.

@The present invention also eliminates fthe Anecessity of using elasticcovering v.fabric and reduces the amount of surplus material usuallyprovided .Where the panels of the cover are joined.. The adjustabilityof the cover is prin-I vvcippally .derived from two inserts or gussetsat f thefront and two long inserts or inturned ypleats at the back ofthe cover. `The front inserts v permit-expansion or contractionv of ythecover Aby providing material adaptedy to be folded in- .wardly inproportionto the amount yto be taken up as the cover is-ttedfto a smallarticle, the' take-up beinggreatest atthe centrall partof y the insert.The lback inserts provide., for ex pansionor contractionof the coveralong straight lines which maybe substantially vertical or may thelfoldline itself beinghidden. 1 v

vThe invention will best be vunderstood from `the; followingldescriptionin conjunction with the accompanying fdrawing.-v y

In the drawing: j Fig. -l is a perspective view of a chair showL ingioneapplication-,of a coverembodying the invention;v

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation offthechair shown" y in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is aperspective view cfa chair showing another application of the covershown in'Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is ay rear elevation of the ,chair shown inlligiiiv be greater ateither top; or bottom of the cover,

' and their 'innercorners at I1 and I8.

' Fig. 51s a detaiiviewvparuy in section of an insert;"

Fig. G'isla' detail view vpartly, in'section of a `In` Figs. fljand 3,aslipV cover embodying the invention is shown asjapplied to a small anda large'ove'r-'stuied'Zarmfchairj respectively. The

cover is a unitary structure having the customary' panels, 'viz.`Aaffront' pan'el I, iront arm panels "2' and 3, outer side panelsilland5, inner side. panels Sand'Louter and 'inner back panels 8' and S, aseat panel l0; and a skirt ll. When applied to awing-ba'ck chaiigtheportions of the back panels' adapted to cover the wings may forconveniencebe describedasthe. wing panels l2 and `I3. This division,ofthe cover into panels is, in asense,` arbitrary and perhaps supercial,since several of the so-called panels are in reality one piece ofmateriali. e., the panels 9 and l0. are in fact one length of cloth witha fold line at the;juncture between'the back and *they seat'of thechair/The description of the cover asA comprising denite panels,therefore, principally'employed to show thev 'location of the, partswith'reference to the furniture on which it vmayi'be placed. A tape I4is secured to the 'sidepanels'jft and 5 and is.` brought across thebackof the chair underneath'the back panel 8and.tied,`so1thatfitjholds'the side panels in closely tothe chair andalso idraws the Lpanels Zjand '3 tightly 'against' the arms of thechair. All :of the foregoing is-'wellunderstood in the art and does notrequire `extensive explanation.

AIn accordanc'zeI'with thepresent invention, an insert'piece I5 isinterposed between `the panels 6 andjlz'fa'nd an insert I6 is placedbetween the panels 1 vrand jl3,"i. e.,' at they point where the topofthechair armf'andgthe back'v are joined.

The inner end oi'each' insert' is located approximately at the points'indicated at I1 and i8, but the end' will notA ordinarily'bevisible, asit is intended that itshallbeltuckedinto the crease, indicated atyISQ/foi'jriied between the arms and back of "the, chair. The outer'ends of the inserts are located at the seams'll andY 2l where theback'panel 8 `joints the 'side'pa'nels, approximately at the pointindicated at 22 and 23; The

inserts l5' and ISmay-'be made offsubstantially rectangularpiecesoffmaterial having theirv sides sewn'to theadjacent panels asindicated at 24 and 25, and their outer corners brought together andsewn at the points: indicated at `22`and 23 The insert may alsobexsubstantially oval in shape,`the flattened sideof the oval fbeingsecured to the adjacent panelsy and the` points of the oval strip beingsecured at the juncture of the panels in thesame way as described above.As kshown in Figs. 1 and 3, the inserts or'gussets may be infoldedr to agreater,` or'lessvdegree, and the degree of infolding determines theextent to which the panels are let out or brought together. The more thegussets are reduced in surface area by infolding, the closer the panelsare drawn together to enable the cover to fit a small article.Conversely, the more the gussets are expanded, the further the panelsmay be drawn apart in order to iit a large article. In both cases theadjustment takes place within the area covered by the gussets, allowingthe panels to be smoothly and tightly fitted, and preventing fullness orbagginess.

The in-folding of the oval inserts tends to draw the panels more at themid-point of the inserts and the out-folding, conversely, tends to allowgreater separations of the panels at the midpoint of `the inserts. Theresult is that adjustment of the panels by this means causes greatestadjustment at the mid-point of the arms of the article `of furniture andprogressively less in both directions until the ends of the inserts arereached. This new feature eliminates stretching the material of thepanels in the center or b-unching'of the material at the ends of theadjustment area. There is ample material at the exact spot whereincrease is desirable (generally, thearea between the mid-point of thetop of the arm and the adjacent portion of the back),

as shown at 26 and 21 (see Fig. 4). These back inserts correspond to thefront inserts in the sense that extramaterial is provided which may befolded in and lie flat -against the back of the chair as shown in Fig.2,'or be 'pulled out to make the cover fit a larger chair as shown inFig. 4. The outer edges of the inserts are secured to the side panelsand the inner edges are secured to the back panel 8. Hooks 28 fastenedin the seam joining the panel 8 and inserts 2B and 21 are adapted tohook into the material of the side panels or the inserts to hold theback panel in place at the sides. The fold line of the l inserts arekept hidden, so that the edge of the but there is no surplus at thesides beyond the points indicated, as is the case with covers in whichboth the side and back panels are provided with a substantially equalamount of surplus material all along the lines Where the panels arejoined.

The angle between the arm and the back of the chair makes it necessaryto fold the material of the corner at this point whenever the cover isused on any except the largest possible chair, and one feature of thepresent invention is that this fold line is made to come withinpredetermined limits (the area defined by the insert) so that the excessmaterial mayv easily be folded under in a, fiat layer (see Fig. 5) andconpanel always presents a, neat, straight line as indicated at 29.

While the material provided for adjustment of the back 'panel has beenshown in the form of separately cut inserts sewn to the back and sidepanels, the particular form shown and described is not intended toprohibit the use of an inturned pleat of material integrally formed withthe back or side panels, and the word insert as used in the claims is tobe construed to cover such equivalent structure.

No cover for the cushion of the chair has been shown, as it may beformed and applied in any Well-known manner.

I claim:

1. An adjustable slip cover for upholstered furniture, having, incombination; suitable panels for covering the several parts of anarticle of furniture, and substantially ,elliptical pieces of materialinserted between the back covering panels and the arm covering panels,the central portion of said inserts being located adjacent that part ofthe arm covering panels which covers the highest part of the arms of thearticle of furniture to which the cover is applied.

cealed. When a cover embodying the invention 4 is used on a small chair,as shown in Fig. 1, the

inserts are folded longitudinally and tucked underneath one of thepanels so that they lie flat against it, and the edges of the two panelscome together or nearly together as shown in Figs. l and 5. There is nobunching of the material in the panels at the ends of the infoldedinsert because the panels abut instead of overlapping, and the take upoccurs within the zone defined by the insert.

When the cover is applied to a large chair, as shown in Fig. 3, theinsert is opened out so that the .edge 24 is pulled upward and the edge25 is pulled outwardly on the arm of the chair. The material of thecover is not stretched because the greatest amount of separation ispermitted at the mid-point of the arm where the greatest extent ofout-folding takes place. The insert is preferably made of the samematerial and with the same pattern as the rest of the cover,

so that the dividing line between the panels and the insert is notreadily noticeable. The spreading of the panels does not causeundue-stretch at the point of greatest expansion because the insertprovides vsurplus material at that point, and there is no undesirablelooseness at either end of the insert because the panels are secured toeach other without any extra fullness beyond the ends of the insert.

The back panel is also provided with inserts 2. An adjustable slip coverfor upholstered furniture having, in combination, suitable panels forcovering the several parts of an article of furniture, and substantiallyelliptical pieces of material secured at each end in the seams joiningthe back covering panels and the arm covering panels, said pieces havingone edge thereof secured to one of said panels and the other edgesecured to the other ofA said panels, so that said panels may be pulledapart in the region of the inserted pieces to enable them to fit alarger article and by infolding the material of the inserted pieces thepanels may be drawn together to enable them to t a smaller article.

3. In an adjustable slip cover having covering portions for the variousparts of an article of furniture, including arm and back coveringportions, and having means for pulling the covering portions tightlyabout the article, in combination, inserted infolding material locatedbetween said arm and back covering portions with its center portionlocated approximately at the top of the arm, said inserted materialhaving the greatest capacity for infolding and outfolding approximatelyin the center thereof with decreasing capacity progressively in `eitherdirection down the sides of the arm of the article of furniture, so thatwhen the cover is placed'on an article having a relatively large surfacearea the arm and back covering portions may be separated Withoutstretching and when the cover is placed onr a relatively small articlethe arm and back covering portions may be drawn together withoutbunching.

MENDEL SUGARMAN.

